Jennifer Berry, a research professional at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was quoted by Fox News about the decline of honey bees.
Through a partnership with Bee Downtown, a startup that introduces beehives to companies in cities, Delta is the first U.S. airline to integrate honey bees into its world headquarters. Companies like Delta are introducing honey bees in creative ways to ramp up the insect’s numbers, which have been starkly low the past decade, and maintain the bee’s billion-dollar impact on America’s agricultural economy. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in added crop value. On average, U.S. beekeepers lost an estimated 40 percent of their managed honey bee colonies last year, according to Bee Informed, a nationwide collaboration of research efforts to better understand the decline of honey bees.
These numbers are alarming, considering the impact bees have on society, said Berry, who has been the apicultural research professional and lab manager for the University of Georgia Honey Bee Program for the past 18 years. Honey bee populations have been declining “truthfully, since 1945, after WWII.” Berry said honey bees are still in trouble. “There’s more awareness, but there’s also more issues, more problems.”
